RICHARD A. DOLE

June 1, 1932 — Nov. 27, 2019

                                            Residence:  Davis, California

Richard Alexander Dole died peacefully at his home in Davis, surrounded by his loving family, on Nov. 27, 2019, at the age of 87.

Sandy (or Dick, as he was also known) was born in Honolulu in the Territory of Hawaii on June 1, 1932, to Nedra (Johnson) and Richard Alexander Dole Sr. He lived most of his life in Palo Alto, where he graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1950 and from Stanford University, with a degree in chemistry, in 1955.

Highlights from his youth included root beer floats at the Southern Pacific station in Palo Alto (which he enjoyed before heading out on his San Francisco Call-Bulletin paper route), biking with friends to Searsville Lake, playing football for the “Paly” Vikings (once carrying the ball seven yards while the crowd gasped) and, at the age of 19, spending three weeks at sea returning a Transpac yacht to San Francisco from Honolulu.

Sandy met his wife, Betty Armstrong, through a Stanford acrobatics troupe. They were married for 63 years, until Betty’s death in May 2018. Together they raised two children, Jefferey, who died in 2008, and Janet, a resident of Davis.

His career included work as a chemist for Sunkist, a mail handler for the U.S. Post Office, and an engineering aide for the Santa Clara County Department of Public Works, from which he retired in the 1990s. He belonged to the Knights of Columbus and Sons in Retirement. Among his favorite pastimes were fly fishing in Wawona, reading novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs and James Fenimore Cooper, attending Stanford football games, and playing with his grandchildren. In later years he studied chess and played games through the mail with his father and brother. He also loved to swim and could still do a “one-and-a-half” off the diving board at Palo Alto’s Rinconada Park well past retirement age.

Besides Janet and her husband, Joe Krovoza, Sandy leaves two beloved granddaughters, Charlotte and Lillian Krovoza; his brother, Richard B. Dole (Susan); his sister, Lynn Marley (Craig); and two nieces and a nephew.

Services will be private. Gifts in Sandy’s memory may be made to the Yosemite Conservancy or a charity of the donor’s choice.